Kospi slides 0.29% on disappointing Micron earnings

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 2,784.06 points on Thursday, down 0.29 percent, or 7.99 points, from the previous trading session. [NEWS1]

Shares closed lower Thursday amid investor disappointment over Micron Technology's earnings results. The won gained ground against the dollar.

The Kospi fell 7.99 points, or 0.29 percent, to 2,784.06.

Trade volume was moderate to slim at 387.4 million shares worth 10.1 trillion won ($7.3 billion), with losers far outnumbering winners 619 to 262. Foreigners and retail investors purchased local shares worth 509.5 billion won and 264.4 billion won, respectively, offsetting institutions' sell-off of 774.3 billion won.

Overnight, Wall Street closed higher, mainly driven by megacap tech shares, but Micron Technology declined after earnings results failed to meet investor expectations, with the AI rally wavering as of late.

"The Kospi started off weak on disappointment over Micron's earnings results, but narrowed earlier losses as auto and shipbuilding shares delivered a robust performance," Lee Jae-won, an analyst at Shinhan Securities, said.

Samsung Electronics rose 0.37 percent to 81,600 won, while SK hynix dropped 0.21 percent to 236,500 won.

Hyundai Motor jumped 2.94 percent to 298,000 won, and Kia added 0.54 percent to 131,500 won to become the fifth-largest company on the Kospi.

Shipbuilders were also bullish, with HD Hyundai Heavy Industries up 2.62 percent to 156,400 won and HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Industries up 4.65 percent to 157,500 won.

Biotech company SK Bioscience also soared 8 percent to 53,300 won after the company announced its plan to acquire German bio firm IDT Biologika.

Other big-cap shares, however, performed weakly.

Battery makers finished lower. LG Energy Solution dropped 0.91 percent to 328,000 won, and Samsung SDI retreated 2.17 percent to 361,000 won. Top chemical producer LG Chem also sank 2.27 percent to 344,000 won.

Naver lost 1.78 percent to 165,400 won, and Kakao slid 2.88 percent to 40,400 won.

The local currency ended at 1,385.80 won against the dollar, down 2.9 won from the previous session's close.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed mixed. The yield on three-year government bonds fell 0.2 basis points to 3.22 percent, and the return on the benchmark U.S. 10-year government bonds gained 8.2 basis points to 4.33 percent.

BY KIM JU-YEON, YONHAP [kim.juyeon2@joongang.co.kr]